Tonsillitis - Will I need a pcr to get treatment?!

[Springchickpea]

I’d really like information from anyone who is in the know because a) they have experienced this or b) they are a hcp

I have what looks like it will be tonsillitis by morning (scratchy sore throat/ear, feeling a bit off, one big enormous pus filled tonsil). I don’t yet have a fever but expect I will by morning and that I will need a course of pen V (have had tonsillitis often enough to know - but oddly not in the pandemic).

How am I going to achieve this? If I have a fever by morning will they really expect that I wait for a negative pcr (and thus get really ill waiting)? Will they just prescribe over the phone? What happens these days for the vast majority of illnesses that are not covid?

NB: I want actual practical knowledgeable advice, not just people telling me that if I have a fever I need a pcr. And I’m cranky because I can feel the start of the infection and being all wobbly. But basically, how do people get ‘urgent’ medical care these days?!

Hi. GP here. I’d assess over the phone +/- photos and use the FEVERPAIN or centaur score to decide on antibiotics. I’d send a prescription to a chemist electronically and ask you to send a non household member to collect. I’d remind you that with a fever you need a PCR and to isolate with your household until the results were back.

Get well soon

Ok, I'm not a doctor but I've recently had a sinus infection. Dr prescribed over the phone, antibiotics to pharmacy, no questions about COVID at all. I'm sorry you're feeling so poorly but if you phone your surgery they should diagnose over the phone. Pus filled tonsil warrants anti b's hopefully and shouldn't question you beyond this. Good luck and hope you feel better x

I don’t know if this is the same across the country but at my practice you just phone and ask to speak to Dr/tell receptionist your symptoms and they will ask for a prescription for you. This was the case even before Covid for something obvious like a throat infection.

Thanks guys. Very reassuring.

@sleeplessinderbyshire I don’t have an issue with doing the pcr, just when I have had tonsillitis before (and one year I had FIVE bouts over a four month period) I get very poorly very quickly. Was having a panic that I would have to somehow get through the first 24 hours without being able to start to get better.

@Flippanty yes, I have a great relationship with my own gp, but I only ever seem to get tonsillitis on a weekend 🙄

@sunshinel I’m pleased you were able to get the medicine you needed

My son had tonsillitis last week but due to temp doctors wanted pcr to see him in person however they did prescribe the antibiotics he needed over the phone. We did pcr it was negative and finished the course of antibiotics- hope you feel better soon

Poor little thing - hope he’s feeling better. My firstborn had tonsillitis every 6 weeks for about an 18 month period until we got his taken out. It’s a rough illness for children to get.

We have a DC with chest/lung issues. Symptoms of course identical to that of covid but with history requires prompt treatment to try and avoid hospital admission. GP has been prescribing over the phone on the basis of symptoms and history and then we have got someone else to lift the medication from the chemist until we have obtained a PCR and a negative result usually can get an early morning PCR test and have the result back before the next morning so then can arrange to have them seen in the surgery if the GP or us feel it's necessary to have them listened into.

We also have covid centres where GPs can refer people who present with covid symptoms ie. A fever but who likely have something else wrong with them and need to be seen face to face. Unfortunately our covid GP centre isn't very local so doesn't really work too well for us however it is reassuring to know that if we really did need DC to be seen in person it would still be available albeit inconvenient.

I saw a GP a few days ago. I filled in an online form (you have to, they won't let you speak to a doctor otherwise).

My DD had a sore throat the week before, which lasted a day, then I got it, but it made my asthma bad., so I was asked to go in.

I walked and by the time I got there, I had a full-blown asthma attack.

My temperature was taken when I arrived, but after listening to my chest, it was done again, this time it was up slightly, but I was diagnosed with a chest infection.

She wanted to call an ambulance, but I had DD with me, so refused, but had a nebuliser, given antibiotics and steroid tablets.

Other illnesses do occur. I've been doing lateral flow tests x2 a week, and have been fully vaccinated for a month, but my asthma has been getting worse for a while (asthma nurse put a note through to GP but they said I was fine).

If you're confident you know what it is, then it's silly to ask for a PCR, but also you may be lucky and get a script over the phone.

Good to know. I do actually have some emergency antibiotics (2 days supply) given to me by the GP last time - I had a couple of awful experiences where ooh wouldn’t survive and I was very poorly.

I still don’t have the fever yet, just pain and a horrible looking tonsil. So I’ll wait and see and have the pen V to fall back on if needed

My daughter just had this. They did a phone call, she sent photos across of her throat and he prescribed antibiotics for her. However she was still in a lot of pain so he wanted to check it wasn’t a deeper infection. She does LFT twice weekly for work so he just asked her to do one of those before she came in as she had got a temperature at this point. It was clear it was related to this and not Covid (she already had Covid and it wasn’t as bad as her tonsillitis!).

She’s feeling much better now on day four.

Thanks @Tumbleweed101 I too have had covid (pre-testing but lost my sense of smell dramatically and had a temperature for a month). That felt totally different (it felt like a horrific viral infection - similar in size to glandular fever but with different symptoms overall).

This is unmistakable. Started with a bit of a headache/dodgy throat, extends to one sided throat/ear/neck pain. Then moves on to flank pain for me. By tomorrow morning I will be unable to move even if there was £1m on the floor of my bedroom.

If you’ve had tonsillitis before, you know the signs. As it’s bank holiday tomorrow I would start on antibiotics today and get further supply on Tuesday. My son suffered tonsillitis for a few years, we knew the signs, headache, sore throat, then white spots followed by temperature. If we got antibiotics in quickly, he wasn’t ill for long.

I have tonsillitis at the moment- called the doctor on Friday (started feeling it on the Wednesday and knew it was bank hol coming up) and they sent me a link to take pictures of my throat, prescribed me penicillin and it was ready to pick up from the pharmacy within an hour of being prescribed. Still feeling awful but hopefully the next couple of days will fare better. It’s awful, feel better soon! No one mentioned anything about a covid test or anything to me.

Just to update - I used 111 to speak to an ooh GP. 111 did give me the spiel about covid etc but the GP actually didn’t. I now have antibiotics and am very happy. Or will be, in a day or two…

I had tonsillitis a few months back and just described my symptoms over the phone. I had been in for surgery three days before and had already had a PCR done prior so not sure if that made a difference

I mean - this is very unmistakable. Oozing tonsil, starting to spread to the other side. Tastes like tonsillitis. Covid doesn’t cause those symptoms.

Hope you feel better soon OP. Tonsillitis is just horrendous

Thank you - it really is! Hopefully the abx will do their job and I’ll be feeling better by tomorrow…